


Keeping up with Wanna One

by moonstuck



Category: Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Comedy, Fluff, M/M, Romance, Wanna One moves to the new dorm, aka it's a huge mess, daniel's done with everyone's shit, flirty seongwoo, may or may not change rating later, this will probably be chaptered, wanna one being wanna one
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-19
Updated: 2017-06-20
Packaged: 2018-11-15 22:00:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11240106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonstuck/pseuds/moonstuck
Summary: The day to move out from the old dorm to the new one has arrived and it's going just as Daniel expected it; terribly disastrous. From bickering maknaes to a nowhere-to-be-found Jihoon and Jinyoung and the oldest not being helpful at all, moving out has become yet another survival mission.A new phase of their lives is just ahead of them; they entered the huge dorm as hopeful trainees with a dream and now are leaving it as Wanna One.Follow the daily lives of the 11 member nation's group Wanna One and the disaster they'll probably make of it.





	1. Moving Day

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, sweet peas ♡ I'm back with yet another story about the most recent obsession that has sucked my life completely since April. 
> 
> In order to distract myself from the sadness of my babies Samuel and Jonghyun not making it I decided to focus on the positive side of the picture and bring to life the new era the eleven hard working and deserving boys of Wanna One will be going through. 
> 
> Hope you like it ♡.

Moving days are always hectic.

Between double checking you didn’t forget anything on the shelves and making sure everyone else packed their own things, moving was tiring as hell. Especially if you were with other 10 boys whom energy seemed to go on like a never ending battery.

Daniel sighed for the 5th time in the day and it only was like 9 am. He was too old for this shit (he wasn’t, but let’s pretend he was for his sake).

Their new manager had come by morning with the news that they were supposed to move to the new dorm by 11 am but as things were going, they would probably arrive in twelve years. Everyone freaked out because of course; nobody packed a thing the night before even if he predicted the situation and warned them about it.

Guanlin was bickering around with Daehwi because his suitcase couldn’t fit all of his snacks and wanted some space in the elder’s one, while said boy refused, arguing too many snacks were going to be harmful to his health anyways. He had a point, one or two bags were understandable but ten? That excuse of “being a chick in growth” he got from Seonho was getting old and Daniel suspected it was only Guanlin’s gluttony.

Meanwhile, Jisung and Seongwoo were playing around in the mid of the mess the old dorm had become. Since they didn’t have that much clothing with them packing up everything resulted in a 10 minutes task and obviously they got bored of waiting after that, so they decided to play MC’s one more time because ‘it’s the last time we’ll get to be OngSung in this dorm, we have to bid it goodbye the best way’ Daniel called bullshit on that, he knew they just wanted to make a mess. Their antics were funny for about 30 minutes but two hours had passed by and Daniel was at the verge of hitting both with his own suitcase.

Jihoon and Jinyoung were pretty calm at first, packing everything neatly and without making that much noise but at a certain point they disappeared and hadn’t come back for about 40 minutes. To be quite honest, he didn’t want to know what they were doing, if Daehwi snickering was anything to go by when he asked the younger.

At the other side of the dorm, Seongwoo and Jaehwan were making sure none of the boys' belongings were forgotten (bless their souls) and Minhyun had already left his suitcase ready by the front door. He was now just waiting for the others and trying to make a friendly amendment between the two maknaes; Guanlin agreed to leave behind two bags of chips and a box of gummies if Daehwi let him stock 3 snacks in his suitcase and share later.

Guanlin wasn’t going to share anything, but some things are better left unsaid.

 

“Hyung, I’m ready” Woojin’s voice came from behind him as he was finishing packing.

“Oh, that’s great. You can leave your suitcase next to Minhyun hyung’s, we’ll be out in like…” he stopped, took a look everything going on around him and sighed once again “probably tomorrow”.

Woojin laughed, understanding the elder’s tiredness and helping him fit a few shirts inside the case. “It’s okay, everyone’s almost ready I think, the two troublemakers won’t take that long. I haven’t seen Jihoon and Baejin though”

“Yeah, I just hope they didn’t drown in the tub or something” and he really did. The two seemed calm individually but together, well, hell could be awakened. The last thing he wanted to deal with was nursing one of the two back to life.

“All right you two stop sulking, we’re moving to the new dorm today!” Seongwoo arrived then with an equally hyper Jisung by his side. “A whole new era is ahead of us, just think about it. We won’t have to smell 98 people’s feet after practice anymore.”

Everyone laughed at this. Sure, they were all excited to be officially part of Wanna One, nation’s boy group and all that, but on the inside none could deny that they felt a little bit sad for everyone who wasn’t there to share that happiness with. Especially people like Samuel and Jonghyun whom everyone thought they’d definitely make it, but some things, unfortunately, don’t go as planned.

“The kids are ready now, no more fighting over chips” just then Minhyun arrived, noticeably tired from dealing with teenage discussions over food. “Jaehwan and Sungwoon are ready too, they are waiting at the front door.”

“We’re ready to go then,” Jisung said while clapping his hands once in an excited manner. The oldest went to fetch their respective luggage and Woojin helped Daniel with his bags while Minhyun collected the youngest.

And so everyone took their baggage and headed towards the large van, eleven people were not going to be able to fit in a small one after all. Their manager was already waiting for them since the drive from the old dorm was quite far from the new one and it was already 9:45 am, they had to hurry up.

Each one entered the automobile and plucked their seatbelts, ready to leave the hell of a place where they spent the last months. All of them looked at the building one last time, smiling with a bit of melancholy; it held beautiful and sorrowful memories of 98 boys who worked hard to achieve their goals, and now only nine were leaving it behind as Wanna One.

 

Wait.

 

Nine? Something wasn’t right; they were supposed to be…

 

“HOLD UP WE ARE MISSING TWO CHILDREN”

Daniel’s scream made their manager stop the van abruptly and everyone started looking around them, trying to figure out who wasn’t there. Just then as if he had invoked them, in the distance they saw Jihoon and Jinyoung come out of the building running and sweating from trying to catch up the van with their entire luggage on hands.

“No wonder it was oddly quiet here” Seongwoo cracked up at Jisung’s comment. Daniel let out his breath in relief and couldn’t help but laugh too, he had feared something like this would happen at some point.

“What a start. These 18 months sure will be fun” Minhyun just laughed breathlessly at Jaehwan’s side comment before getting out of the car to help the tired young pups fit their bags in the trunk.

With a little help from their manager and a bit of brute force provided by Daniel they managed to fit everyone’s suitcases once again and after the late arrivers adjusted themselves between some of the others (much to Woojin’s discomfort because everyone was so close to each other it was ‘suffocating as hell’) the boys were finally able to begin the journey.

Music played on the radio as background sound while the eleven members chatted animatedly with one another. Guanlin’s chips were passed out between all of them and jokes were made by the OngSung duo pretty much every five minutes, making all of them laugh out loud and earn many scolds from their manager because ‘they were distracting him from the road’. The truth is he was trying to hold back his laughter too.

After a while, someone finally decided to address the elephant in the room. Well, in the van in this case.

“What were you two doing that took you so long anyway?” asked a curious Guanlin while munching on the already 3rd bag of snacks.

Immediately Jihoon and Jinyoung looked at each other alarmed. A mischievous smile crept in both faces as Jihoon’s cheeks turned pink with embarrassment and Jinyoung only tilted his head and scratched his neck.

Daniel immediately understood.

“Oh my god, you two are so disgusting get away from me” Daehwi immediately tried to pry away from Jinyoung at his side with a jokingly disgusted expression, practically sitting over Woojin who (again) wasn’t so happy about it but welcomed him in his lap anyway.

“It’s not like _that!_ ” immediately Jinyoung tried to explain but everyone else was already dying of laughter except for Guanlin, who still was a little bit confused. “We were just kiss-“

“KILLING BUGS” Jihoon interrupted him without thinking, sitting straight on his seat with a face so red he was probably boiling. All faces turned to him incredulously. Of all the things he could’ve said…

“Sure, sure, keep telling yourself that” Jaehwan, being Jaehwan, was not letting this die anytime soon. The more blackmail material he owned, the better.

“Why were you killing bugs if we were going to leave anyways?” was Guanlin’s question. Minhyun looked adoringly at him and patted his head lightly, amused by the youngest innocence. Though he wasn’t that innocent, he just didn’t understand Korean a hundred percent yet.

Daniel knew that when the Taipei boy finally grasped the language Minhyun would probably have a heart attack.

 

“Hey Daniel”

“What?” he turned his face towards Seongwoo, but not even the evil smile he was wearing prepared him for what came out of his mouth next.

“Wanna kill bugs with me?”

The wriggling eyebrows clearly earned the older some points because Daniel couldn’t help but become a bundle of giggles.

“Oh my god”

 

And with Daehwi’s and Woojin’s grossed-out groans, Guanlin abandoning the topic to concentrate on his food; Jisung, Sungwoon and Jaehwan laughing like maniacs and their manager scolding them (again), Minhyun rolling his eyes with a small smile and Jinyoung and Jihoon groaning in embarrassment they continued their journey towards their new house. And it had only been 30 minutes since they left.

Indeed, these 18 months were going to be something for sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this mess of a story and if you liked it let me know in order to keep going as a chaptered fic instead of a oneshot.
> 
> In another note, I know many of us are pretty upset about some of our faves not making it to the final line-up but let's not take our anger out neither at Wanna One nor knetz; we all had our faves and they did too, unfortunately, some of them didn't coincide. It's not a matter of race or 'sleeping on talents' because the 20 boys who made it to ep. 11 are hard working and extremely talented so let's just turn that anger or sadness in support towards Wanna One, Nu'est and Samuel's solo debut♡.
> 
> That's all from me as of today, once again thank you for reading and I hope this helped to ease some sorrow or just bring a smile to your faces.
> 
> with love, moonstuck ♡.


	2. Welcome to the rest of your lives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miraculously they arrive at the dorm (almost) in time without any deaths or injuries. Surprising.
> 
> The new dorm brings a series of events not completely absurd but quite interesting.   
> Chicken fights, parental debate, footsie fights at lunch under the table and a phone call.
> 
> Welcome to Episode number 2 of Keeping up with Wanna One; Managing Mom(s).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay this took me longer than expected because it's about 9 pages long (wild i know) and had so much going on lmao but here it is! Without further ado, here I present chapter two of this mess thank you so much.

_11:30 a.m._

 

Seoul’s streets can be quite intense at noon, and by intense we can translate it to eight cars out of four trying to switch lanes every goddamn five minutes without any notice, while driving almost at 50 miles per hour because they were late by 20 minutes already, and on top of that having eleven young men shouting in the back of the van about god knows what anytime they had a chance.

 

You see, the manager was _fucking tired_.

 

Daniel was less stressed now that everything had gone (almost) perfectly. He was cracking up in laughter because of Seongwoo’s lame jokes accompanied by Jisung’s exaggerated reactions, clearly having the time of his life as he wasn’t the target of Jaehwan’s constant teasing. In his opinion, Jihoon and Jinyoung had asked for it.

They had been on the road for about an hour now and he was pretty sure they would arrive at the dorm in no time. He was excited, to say the least, a whole new life was waiting for them and everyone was dripping energy because of it. Even the always so tranquil Minhyun couldn’t help but fidget around trying to calm his nerves down.

“We’ll arrive in five, start picking up any trash you might have dropped ‘cause I don’t want this van to smell on its first day” the manager called out half-jokingly, making a turn by a beautiful and quiet street in Gangnam.

The car parked in front of a big apartment with a small yard. It didn’t seem incredibly expensive but it was quite the place for a rookie group. Mnet was really going all out for this.

“Wow, are we really living there?” a dumbstruck Daehwi said breathlessly after everyone got out of the van and fetched their bags.

It seemed that all of them were thinking the same because they were all looking at the place with shining eyes. It was happening for real, they were Wanna One and this was their new house for eighteen months. Talk about overwhelming feelings.

The manager guided them through the front door and elevator since they would be staying at the highest floor. It took two rides and a lot of trying to fit as many bags inside the elevator as possible for them to get to their dorm.

“Welcome to the rest of your lives” murmured Seongwoo by Daniel’s ear, earning him a playful hit in the chest and a smile from the younger.

And so, with their hearts on their throat, they entered the place.

 

And holy macaroni this was way better than expected.

 

The dorm was really spacious. Like, really spacious. The living room was about the size of a whole practice room from the old dorm with some couches arranged around beside a huge window, the kitchen was big enough to fit all of them and there even was a set of stairs. _Stairs, for god’s sake._ Apparently, it was two stored as the three rooms were on the second floor.

“I feel like I’m in a TV drama. Like I’m the poor girl and I just moved to my rich boyfriend’s house” Jisung commented mindlessly, making Jaehwan laugh out loud.

“This is amazing.” Said Jihoon while wandering around the place. Every so often he would stop by a painting in the wall to take a closer look, nosing around the little figurines on the shelves of the shelf.

“I know right. I can’t believe we get to be here a year and a half” Sungwoon said from the couch, already making himself comfortable with Jinyoung and Woojin following suit.

The boys tossed their bags to some corner in order to find themselves a place in the comfy couches. Jihoon sat close to Jinyoung with the excuse of there not being enough space and of course Seongwoo stole the line to sit practically on top of Daniel, making everyone laugh.

Minhyun opted to sit on the armrest, letting Guanlin and Daehwi sit by the other maknaes’ side. Woojin made some space for Jaehwan and Jisung and soon they were all snuggled up comfortably in the sofas while the manager searched for something in his bag.

“Okay kids, hate to break this beautiful family moment but the time has come” all of them looked at the manager with curious expressions, not understanding what was going on. That is until he dangled a set of keys in front of them.

“We need to set rooms” he deadpanned.

 

And hell broke loose.

 

“I want to room with Daniel!” arrived first Seongwoo’s shout. No one was going to argue against that anyway but he made sure to voice it out.

“I want a bed for myself, I’m the oldest” said Jisung.

“I want a bed for myself, I’m the youngest” and everyone looked at him in confusion.

“That doesn’t make sense, Guanlin” Daniel laughed at this.

“I’m a growing boy; I need to be able to stretch my legs to get taller than Jaehwan hyung”

“MY HEIGHT IS JUST FINE, YOUNG MAN”

“Jihoon and I can share a bed” Jinyoung commented.

“No way in hell that’s happening. You’re still too young for that” Minhyun was already separating them as he said it, standing between them as Sungwoon laughed merciless at them.

“How many beds are in each room anyway?”

 

Everyone looked at Woojin. At least someone was asking the important questions here.

 

“Thank you for shutting them up, Woojin” said the manager. “There’s a room with two bunk beds and an individual bed for the babies and another two rooms with a bunk bed and a single bed respectively for the elders”.

“Hey, that’s not fair, why do the five of us have to be cramped like sardines in one room?” Guanlin was clearly not having it.

“To be honest, manager-nim, having the five of them together in one room… I’m scared for their safety” and Minhyun was right, the five youngest left alone would burn down the place in less than an hour out of spite or boredom. They were not to be trusted left alone.

“Why don’t we play a game to decide our rooms?” said Sungwoon. Jisung agreed, arguing about fair opportunities for all.

“Wait, what kind of game?” Daehwi said suspiciously. Nothing good was roaming in Sungwoon’s mind and he knew it. Everyone knew it to be honest.

And with a smirk and an evil sparkle in his eyes said, “chicken fight”.

 

 

The teams were set by a quick rock-paper-scissors duel, Daniel being the captain of the first one and Jaehwan the captain of the opposing team.

The Kang’s (name set by Jinyoung saying it had ‘a feeling’) was composed of Daniel, Jinyoung, Jihoon, for obvious reasons, Sungwoon and Woojin. Meanwhile, the Rap Line team (baptised by Guanlin ironically) consisted in Jaehwan, Minhyun, Seongwoo even though he was against it, Daehwi and Guanlin.

Jisung proclaimed himself as the moderator because ‘he was too old for this’ and didn’t want to hurt any of the babies. Once again Daniel called bullshit on this because he knew damn well Jisung didn’t want Woojin or Seongwoo crushing him to death. But no one needed to know that.

Their manager left them to buy some groceries for lunch and told them he hoped they would have the rooms arranged by the time he came back (he knew they wouldn’t).

 

“All right so it goes like this. Choose three representatives for your team who will be competing for each room and leave two people as a reservoir if one of the players gets tired” Jisung explained the game rules in order to make it easy and quick, he thought it made complete sense.

“All right, let’s get over this.” Said an apparently tired Woojin. Little did they know he was competitive as hell and was planning to win no matter what.

The Kang’s elected Daniel, Woojin and Jihoon as players meanwhile the Rap Line (god _,_ the name) sent Seongwoo, Jaehwan and Daehwi to the war. They accommodated themselves in front of their respective opponent and got ready to start the battle.

“I promise I’ll be gentle, babe” the overly-sweet but mocking tone Seongwoo used made Jinyoung do a gagging sound, earning him a funny glare from Minhyun becaus boy, he was much worse than that.

“That’s always been my line Ong” was Daniel’s reply, a wink and full playful smirk on his face.

“I don’t have a good feeling about this” and Jaehwan was in all his damn right to feel unsteady because the fire in Woojin’s eyes was just spine-chilling.

“All right Juliet, show me your claws” smirked Daehwi in a playful tone, ready to attack Jihoon at the moment Jisung announced the fight had started.

And with an incredulous laugh that made his head fall backwards, Jihoon accommodated his left foot further up his right leg. “Bring it on, baby”.

“Ready… Go!”

 

And so the battle began. Six boys fighting for their lives (quite literally as the next eighteen months would consist of hell or heaven depending on the results), hopping around the living room in one leg while trying to bring their opponent down.

 

Without a doubt, a scene to delight.

 

On the background Jinyoung’s screams of support towards Jihoon could be heard, turning into swears because 'goddammit Daehwi don’t be so aggressive towards my baby'. In the middle of the chaos Jaehwan decided it was no use trying to bring down the bulk of muscles Woojin was so he tried to run away, only to be caught by Sungwoon. But things didn’t go as planned and it ended up as him getting hit in the stomach and Jaehwan fuming around because his getaway was just perfect and he had to ruin it.

Of course this started a commotion that Daniel and Seongwoo noticed in time, even though that ruined Seongwoo’s plan of kissing Daniel ‘accidentally’ and had to postpone their moment for latter in order to bring peace to the dorm. Somehow the competitive streak Produce 101 left had them traumatized for life, everything was just too intense.

Just as Daniel grabbed Sungwoon back, Jinyoung jumped Daehwi like a lion, and Guanlin wanting to support his teammate was just about to attack back only to be stopped by an overprotective Jihoon who hopped on top on him and then-

 

The door opened.

 

The manager entered the room with brown paper bags in his arms filled with veggies and some snacks for his new precious children.

And then he looked at them.

Jinyoung was on the floor head locking Daehwi. Jihoon on top of Guanlin’s back trying to hold him down in the couch. Daniel and Seongwoo were trying to separate Jaehwan from Sungwoon; whose hands were tugging the younger’s hair. Jisung was panicking by the side because this was a fucking mess while Minhyun tried to calm him down and Woojin, well he was judging them quietly by the window.

They stopped in their tracks and looked at him like deer caught in the headlight.

The manager just sighed.

“I suppose the chicken fight didn’t go as planned” all of them nodded in unison.

 

In the end, they all agreed to the initial rooming arrangement.

 

After the failure of the chicken fight the five youngest took their bags and headed towards their rooms to clean up all the sweat meanwhile the other members helped Minhyun and Jisung prepare lunch.

Jihoon took the bottom of the first bunk bed and Jinyoung opted for the top of the same. Daehwi climbed to the top of the opposite bunk bed and Woojin left his bag in the bottom. That allowed Guanlin to make himself at home on the individual bed, fulfilling his plan in the end.

After taking a quick but much needed shower the five of them sat down in the middle of the room, wanting to discuss rather an important matter.

 “We need to set something straight.” Said Daewhi taking the lead of the conversation, as if this was a life or death situation. “Who’s the mom and who’s the dad of the group?”

“Aren’t Daniel hyung and Seongwoo hyung the parents?” asked Woojin a little perplexed. He thought that was already established.

“I thought it was Jisung hyung” Jihoon commented, leaning back on both hands to stretch his sore legs.

“No, Minhyun hyung is the mom,” Guanlin said by his side, shaking his head.

“Then who’s the father?” asked Jinyoung. And all of them looked back at Guanlin with expectation for an answer.

“Well, it was supposed to be Jonghyun but we were left half orphaned” Guanlin replied mindlessly.

“You don’t say ‘half orphaned’, Guanlin; we would still have a mom” somehow that didn’t sound entirely wrong but still, Jihoon didn’t even know ‘half-orphaned’ was a word.

“Fuck mnet, dividing families like it’s a game,” Jinyoung said dramatically, shaking his head in disappointment while looking at the floor.

“Tough Jaehwan hyung nags like a mom too” and Daehwi was right, no one could deny that the older was quite naggy sometimes.

“Yeah, you’re right and he was always petty about the dorm being clean and whatsoever” Jinyoung remembered all the times Jaehwan came up to him nagging about how untidy the room was 24/7 because of him.

“Okay Jinyoung, you have to admit leaving your socks in the middle room is nasty” commented Daehwi in a careful tone, as if speaking to a toddler.

“They don’t even smell!” Jinyoung replied exasperated.

“Still” said Woojin.

Before the conversation could turn into a childish fight Minhyun opened the door, notifying them lunch was ready; Jaehwan had cooked really tasty spaghetti and prepared veggies with soy sauce just like Jinyoung liked them. They all looked at each other with eyes full of hope and gratitude as an agreement was settled without need of words; Jaehwan was the mom indeed.

 

With the eleven members sitting around the huge table accompanied by the manager conversation flowed easily, jumping around from topic to topic from the different this was compared to the old cafeteria to the next schedules to be announced in the following days.

Jihoon brought his socked foot close to Jinyoung’s, who was sitting in front of them practically choking on his spaghetti (Jihoon thought he was adorable with all the sauce scattered around his lips, shut up), and nudged him playfully.  Jinyoung immediately understood and used his feet to capture Jihoon’s in a cheeky trap, making both giggle and fight for dominance under the table.

Daniel by the wink boy’s side was unaware of the footsie fight going on as he was animatedly talking to both the manager, Jisung and Minhyun about the huge TV in the living room and how awesome it would be to see music shows on it.

All the boys were happy to say the least.

A kind of warmth could be felt buzzing around the new house with the excitement every one of them felt. Sitting like this, eating and talking after everything they had to go through was truly rewarding, as if all their hard work was finally paying off in the shape of the relaxed atmosphere that surrounded the kitchen and the carefree laughter echoing through the walls.

 

But as nighttime arrived, unpacking was done and the place grew quieter, the warm summer wind filling the living room with a warm breeze. Some of the city lights could be seen from there, the busy world of Seoul night life far away from the peaceful environment of the apartment.

Most of the boys were back at their respective rooms brushing their teeth after having fried chicken for dinner and getting ready to sleep.

 

Except one.

 

Daehwi was sitting by the window armchair with his legs pulled up to his chest, looking outside to the night sky. He was there, he made it, he was part of the nation’s boy group; but why didn’t he feel entirely happy?

_‘Because a certain lilac-haired boy wasn’t there’_. His own mind answered.

The boy sighed mindlessly, resting his cheek on his knees as he pulled out his cellphone from the sweaters hidden pocket.

He really didn’t think twice before dialing the number. He needed to hear his voice, know the younger was fine (even though he knew best), hear him laugh and make lame jokes in English for Daehwi to laugh. He just needed him by his side so, so bad.

 

_“Hello? Hyung?”_ came the mellow voice he loved so much from the other side of the speaker.

“Hey there” Daehwi could barely talk, throat constricting against his will.

_“You finally called, I thought you had forgotten about me”_ Samuel’s laugh echoed through his mind and honestly the older boy did his best trying to be strong. For himself, for Samuel as well.

“You brat, how could I ever forget about you?” he laughed unconsciously at how easy talking with the younger was. He remembered all the sleepless night they spent in the old dorm cuddled against each other, worries spilled over stolen snacks and hidden laughs. Boy, this was torture. “I couldn’t call earlier because we were pretty busy with moving and all that.”

He just hoped this wasn’t a touchy subject. Daehwi wanted to tell Samuel everything and talk with him until midnight as usual but he wasn’t sure if it was too soon to poke in the younger’s wounded heart. The last thing he wanted was making the younger feel worse.

_“Ohh, you already moved? How’s the dorm? Is it big?”_ and Daehwi could hear even through the phone that the younger was trying to be supportive, but there was the unmistakable hint of pain in his voice. God, he was really bad for doing this.

“I-It’s great! Really big you know, there’s even a TV” he cleared his throat trying to sound as cheerful as possible “I have to share a room with other four members but nothing’s perfect in this life is it.”

And that earned him a good, big laugh from the other boy. The first genuine laughter he’d heard in days and a little bit of warmth engulfed his heart at the thought of being able to cheer Samuel up even just a little.

_“Just avoid Jinyoung-hyung’s socks at all costs. They get really nasty”_ and now it was Daehwi who was laughing out loud, a few tears dripping down his cheeks inevitably.

Samuel heard perfectly the little hiccups the older was trying to hide, always so perceptive of the older boy’s mood like they had known each other forever. Maybe that’s why it hurt so much; they got so accustomed to each other’s presence that now, being far away from the other, felt as if a part of them had been ripped apart.

_“Hyung, don’t cry… You know I’ve never liked to see you sad”_ and Daehwi felt his heart clenching at how tender the boy talked to him; so sweet and caring even though he was the one who should be comforting him.

Samuel was the only boy who knew about his father’s passing away, the only one he opened up to talk about all his worries and the only one who hugged him to sleep every night with lovely whispers of ‘everything will be all right’. There was just so much he things he could bear and this, _this_ wasn’t one of them.

“Muel-ah, I miss you so much…” and with that he broke in not-so-silent cries, muffling some of the sound with his sweater paw. He heard the intake of breath at the other side of the line, probably Samuel trying hard not to cry as well.

_“I miss you too, you have no idea hyung”_ his voice sounded strained, like he didn’t want to give away all of the sadness that sentence carried within.

But Daehwi knew better. He knew Samuel must have been holding back everything since the last day of recording when his rank was announced and the younger was left standing with the eliminated trainees. His heart broke when he looked at the boy and him, instead of hating Daehwi or looking away, genuinely smiled back with such sorrowful eyes but filled with pride for the older Daehwi felt like he couldn’t breathe.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep without you” said the older earnestly, already avoiding going back to the room because Samuel’s absence would only crush him more.

_“Don’t say that. You need all the rest you can get ‘cause things will get pretty hectic from now on”_ the younger seemed more relaxed now, breathing calmly through the phone.

Daehwi sighed, a smile creeping upon his lips at the boy’s words. “That’s my line! I heard about your solo debut, Muel-ah. Let’s see each other on broadcasting stations a lot, all right?” he laughed, hoping for his words to come true form the bottom of his heart.

_“Just wait and see, I’ll beat you on Inkigayo”_ Samuel joked once more before yawning, causing the older to make an exasperated sound that ended up in a laugh anyway.

“So modest” he teased without venom but pure adoration. “Go to sleep, so maybe you’ll have strength to beat us as you say”

_“When I get the daesang don’t come at me”_

 

Both laughed for a good ten minutes more about anything and everything, switching to English once in a while and Samuel making Daehwi promise to send pictures of the house. He looked at the clock on the wall; it was getting pretty late already and even if he wanted to talk with Samuel all night it was already 12:35.

“I need to go before any of the hyungs nag at me for being up so late” he said even though he didn’t want to go, but he could hear the sleepiness in the younger’s voice too and how he was trying hard not to fall asleep just to talk a little more to Daehwi.

_“All right, say hi to them from me okay? Stop sulking around, hyung, cheer up. You deserve all the happiness in the world”_ but before Daewhi could reply saying that the younger deserved all the happiness in the galaxy, _in the fucking universe_ , the other boy spoke first.

_“And hyung… I love you”_ Samuel mumbled in English, making his heart skip a beat.

“I love you too, Muel-ah”

 

Daewhi finally hung up and let a pained breath out of his lungs.

He dried his tears and breathed deep a few times, thinking ‘it’s okay, you’ll be okay’ a countless times before making his way towards the room, his cheerful façade back on like an armor.

He didn’t want to worry the other members, because he knew damn well all of them were going through a similar situation; so many of their friends didn’t make it. But they were there now and he needed to act as if everything was fine, even though sometimes he felt like crumbling.

He smiled, taking a deep breath once again before entering the room of the maknaes. He thought no one would notice anything, but as he entered Woojin and Jinyoung shared a look in understanding, not saying a word for the boy’s sake.

 

 

Little did he know, someone heard his conversation behind the kitchen door. The boy gulped hard trying to ease the knot in his throat, blinking away the tears that had formed earlier and gathered the courage to take out his phone from the back pocket.

After a little while, a raspy voice answered calmly but welcoming.

 

_“Hello, Minhyun”_

“Jonghyun…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What a ride.
> 
> Lmao I'm joking. I really wanted to take the time and say thank you so so so much to everyone for the feedback, be it comments, kudos or simply clicking on the fic, it made me get attached to it instead of ditching it as I've done with other unpublished ideas lmaooo so yeah, thank you for saving this story from the depths of the Never-published-dungeon of my computer. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you soon (I hope) in the next one.
> 
> With love, moonstuck ♡.


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